Problem: 7 people can paint 3 walls in 41 minutes. How many minutes will it take for 9 people to paint 7 walls? Round to the nearest minute.
Answer: We know the following about the number of walls $w$ painted by $p$ people in $t$ minutes at a constant rate $r$ $w = r \cdot t \cdot p$ $\begin{align*}w &= 3\text{ walls}\\ p &= 7\text{ people}\\ t &= 41\text{ minutes}\end{align*}$ Substituting known values and solving for $r$ $r = \dfrac{w}{t \cdot p}= \dfrac{3}{41 \cdot 7} = \dfrac{3}{287}\text{ walls painted per minute per person}$ We can now calculate the amount of time to paint 7 walls with 9 people. $t = \dfrac{w}{r \cdot p} = \dfrac{7}{\dfrac{3}{287} \cdot 9} = \dfrac{7}{\dfrac{27}{287}} = \dfrac{2009}{27}\text{ minutes}$ $= 74 \dfrac{11}{27}\text{ minutes}$ Round to the nearest minute: $t = 74\text{ minutes}$